It all depends on what you want to do with it, but if you're just starting out I recommend picking up a simple bolt-action .22. Semi-automatics and centerfires are awesome, but it's important to learn how to shoot well from the start. A .22 is much more affordable than a centerfire (you can find them new for less than $200) and ammunition is wayyy cheaper ($25 or so for 500 .22 rounds vs. $175 or so for 500 .223 rounds), and they're very quiet and have practically zero recoil- something very important when you want to develop good shooting habits and not flinch or anticipate shots and get all tense. Having to manually cycle the bolt each time you fire a shot will help you focus on each individual shot vs. a semi-automatic that lets you rack the bolt and go kerwhop-whop-whop and not think too hard about where you're shooting. They also require a lot less maintenance, are inherently more accurate, and it's almost impossible to wear out a .22. I started out shooting an ancient single shot bolt-action .22 with iron sights rusted in place and, well, I'm still shooting single shot .22's (albeit much much nicer ones). Check this out... <a class="postlink" href="http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=186029658" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =186029658</a>. You can probably find a Marlin like that used for less than $150 and they are very good rifles for the price. You could feasibly pick up a sling (which is absolutely necessary if you want to shoot well), a pile of ammunition, and a simple cleaning kit for $250 and then you're set. It may not be as exciting, but you should start out shooting with iron sights and once you're proficient with them, consider a scope. There's lots of guides online for proper shooting techniques, but it all boils down to spending some time with your rifle doing some diligent target shooting in various positions- standing, sitting, and prone. Even if you just want to shoot tin cans and apples, it's a heckuva lot more fun when you can always hit what you're aiming at- especially if you don't want to be limited to shooting off a bench.
Thanks for the advice. Good stuff. I did enjoy shooting the .22, it was easy for me to use and get used to, something I agree is important. My dad has a 9mm H&K P7M8, would that be a good gun for me to continue learning on, or should I get a 22 and get more comfortable with that before moving on? Thanks!
Yes. I am not much of a pistolero (others here can give much better advice than me on handguns), but across the board- you absolutely do not want to start shooting with something that packs too much recoil and makes you develop a flinch. By flinch, I mean anticipating the shot- jerking the trigger, leaning forward into the shot, squeezing your eyes shut, etc. All of these things are hard to reverse and you'll never be able to shoot really well if you develop those bad habits. It's even hard for me at times to be completely relaxed when shooting heavy recoiling guns (you should watch me practice shooting shotgun slugs- it's embarrassing), but you should be able to calmly exhale and slowly squeeze the trigger without tensing up while shooting. Watch at about :08. Did you see him jerk the trigger hard and jump up a little? That's a bad flinch and will undoubtedly lead to missing shots. You should also take note that he's shooting a .416 Rigby- a big fucking rifle. Skip to 2:00 and watch David Tubb (hands down one of the best rifle shooters ever) shoot. See how relaxed he is? That's how it's done. So, even though it's a 9mm, you might want to consider a .22 (Ruger MKII or Browning Buckmark?) before moving up.
I am just starting to consider getting into shooting at a range - being a Canadian puts a whole lot of extra work into undertaking this, so I'm just doing preliminary research and ideas. I've done a little bit of plinking with my dad, but that was eight years ago with a 22 (oh and I shot an apple in a tree with his 20-guage), but I want to grab a pistol. Is the Ruger Mk3 any good? I've seen the mkii get reccomended a lot but I'd imagine it'd be a lot harder to get one up here than the 3
The Ruger MKIII's are a great option if you're looking for a decent plinking pistol. My girlfriend's dad has one that's a lot of fun to shoot. The only caveat is that they are notorious for being a motherfucker to break down, clean, and reassemble. I've never done it myself, so I can't personally attest to how difficult it is, but it's the one constant aside from "fun to shoot" that I've heard from multiple owners. Some people don't even bother doing it themselves and bring it to a gunsmith to avoid the hassle altogether. Would it stop me from buying one myself? No, because it's a fun little pistol. But just be prepared. You might also want to look into the Walther P22 (~$330), though, the Ruger will most likely be more accurate.
I'm planning on buying a Trijicon ACOG scope for my AR, but I can't decide what reticle color I want. I already know I don't want an amber crosshair (too light), so that leaves me with red or green. Green is right in the middle of the light spectrum, so scientifically, it's the brightest and easiest to see. Red on the other hand, seems to contrast just as well, if not better. I want something that stands out on any background, but doesn't mess up my sight picture at night. What do you guys think?
I've fired a MKIII and I own a P22. They're both good guns, but the P22 is a much more fun gun to shoot.
Many squirrels will fall at the hands of rifles stocked with these right here this fall. Funny how stock projects only start looking decent when you're just finishing them.
I've been getting a few nice reps and I appreciate them. For the sake of some eye candy, this is one of my next big projects: I'm going balls-out on it. A checkered steel buttplate, skeletonized grip cap (with rosewood in the middle), inletted swivel studs, and it will most definitely be checkered (sadly I have yet to teach myself how to checker). It has a shadow line on the cheekpiece and I love how it flows into the fluted grip. I'm also contouring the stock around where the receiver sits much like old-school custom M98s and M70s. I wish it had an ebony fore-end tip but I can live with the rosewood. I've already lined the fore-end with carbon fiber and did a full pillar bedding job. It'll shoot just as well as it looks.
Yeah that stock definitely has some interesting grain. The blank was flat sawn and the stock was cut out of it at a distinct angle across the grain. Should be good when the finish starts to get slick.
I'm talking riflery as a leisure skills class and the other day the instructor informed that I am cross-eye dominant (right handed/left eyed). Anyone have any experience with this? He told me that I had to make a decision whether I wanted to shoot left handed or close my eye/wear a patch until I became right eye dominant. My question is whether I should just shoot left handed or if it was worth it to try to switch eyes because most guns are right handed and eject shells toward left handed shooters? I don't have much shooting experience as you can probably tell and have no preference either way.
Others might weigh in with different opinions but I don't think you should fight your eye. If you are just starting out, it would be easier to switch up your shooting position than deal with the awkwardness of shooting with your right eye. What sort of rifle do you have? Depending on how it ejects it may or may not be too much of an issue shooting left-hand with a right handed rifle. If it spits hot brass right at you with fury, you might have to deal with shooting right handed. An interesting article that incidentally popped up on 6mmbr.com a few days ago... <a class="postlink" href="http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2010/08/off-set-scope-mount-for-southpaw-who-shoots-with-right-eye/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/201 ... right-eye/</a> Quite the scope mount, eh? I happen to hate squirrels. I mean I really fucking hate them. So, when I set out to build up a squirrel rifle, I don't really hold back. I want them to be accurate, but good looking. These have benchrest-quality barreled actions and high grade stocks with some fancy refinements. Here's my Marlin 980S custom and Ruger 10/22 custom rifles. Both have shot 5-round groups at 50 yards under .2" with benchrest stocks and a Leupold 36X. Both are capable of making pretty long range shots for a .22 and frankly, they make walking around a farm shooting sparrows and starlings some of the most fun you can imagine. You can pop the bastards from 75+ yards with these if you can accurately gauge the wind and distance.
In addition to working on stocks, I laminate stock blanks- simply put, I glue hardwood boards (I prefer walnut) with carbon fiber to make a thicker stock blank. Some stockmakers send wood to me to laminate up because not too many people laminate blanks with carbon fiber and it's worth their time. Without warning, a package arrived for me today. It was from an older guy out in Pennsylvania that makes some very very nice stocks. Enclosed was a letter (with brief instructions), a check, and this wood (this is one of the side pieces- it'll end up as a 5-layer laminate). Holy shit folks... what makes this even better is this stock's future. There's a brand new action being made now for .22 benchrest rifles called the Falcon BR and one of the first ones ever made will be used with this stock. It'll be a very special target rifle. Normally I wouldn't really want a client to spontaneously send me wood, but I'll take stuff like this any time.
I'm left handed and have never shot a left handed firearm. I've shot thousands of rounds through pistols, rifles and shotguns and have never been hit with a spent casing. If shooting left handed isn't too awkward for you, I wouldn't worry with changing.
Here's a pretty fancy rimfire benchrest rifle with a stock hacked out of a blank I laminated. The show wood is english walnut. Pretty nice stuff. I got very lucky in selling blanks to the best custom rifle makers from the start, and now some of them send wood to me to laminate. It's fun working with wood that is worth much much more than I could personally use.
This thing is going to be a monster. Two layers of black walnut, two layers of rock maple, and two layers of black cherry- with 5 layers of medium-weight twill weave carbon fiber. It'll be ungodly strong and stiff with fantastic vibration absorption properties and good looks- that is hands down the best maple I have ever worked with. I've got enough of it to make three more stocks. I want to see this sucker be part of a long range benchrest rifle (like 600-1000 yards)... not the 50-yard rimfires I typically work on. I recently contacted my high school's physics teacher. An extremely nerdy thing to do, but he's extremely intelligent and has access to a great lab- and he's nice enough to help me perform some testing with different laminates. I've always been curious about the relationship between lateral stiffness and vibration control in stocks and how I can use the best materials in my laminates to create the optimal stock for a given purpose. I'll be testing a series of different laminates with hardwoods, softwoods, and carbon fiber and will utilize my findings with a series of benchrest stocks I want to make in the future. I've got a pattern drawn up already... it just needs to be hacked out and completed. Materials matter when you're trying to put 25 bullets into the same hole.
This started out as a factory 10/22 carbine stock. They are absolute bastards to stain! I sanded and sanded and it still ended up blotchier than hell. I eventually re-blued the grip cap too... it was my first foray into cold bluing so naturally the first time wasn't quite 100%. It was done for the sake of practice and since it isn't perfect (first time installing an ebony tip and grip cap), I couldn't sell it. I did a rush job anyways and it is evident in the bedding and occasional rough spot around the grip. So, I gave it to a little cousin as a birthday gift with one request- he uses the hell out of it. I'd like to think a mountain of starlings and sparrows have been shot with it by now.
Curly rock maple, black cherry, and carbon fiber blanks. Serious benchrest stock blanks. Lots of wood jokes can be made from this work... I've got the hardest/stiffest/strongest/prettiest/longest wood around.